Weighing apparatus



Oct. 6, 1936.

E. HOLM 2,056,900 WEIGHING APPARATUS Filed July27, 1934 4 Shegts-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Etna-r //a Z m.

a ATTORNEY Oct. 6, 1936. HOLM 2,056,900

WEIGHING APPARATUS Filed July 27,, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 5 0 3a, 32 F 49- w 36 T I 2 Z 5'1 Iii-3 INVENTQR Z'i 1164,? Ha 2% Y Ma ATTORNEY Oct. 6, 1936.

E. HOLM WEIGHING APPARATUS Filed July 27, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR, ,rr Helm A G..-Q ATTORNEY Jected Patented Oct. 6, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT" oFFica wncnmo msasrus Elna:- Helm, Pascale, n. r. Application July 21. 1034, Serial No. 131.115 9 claim. (01. 249-19) Apparatus is known by what is termed nonflowing material, as candles and other divided solid material of the coarser size, is subto the following operations: Placed in a hopper, it is agitated by a scoop-like shaker into which the hopper discharges downwardly; the shaker discharges into one of the cells of a pluricelled receiver or bucket carried by beam and, in the elevated position of the beam, held from rotating by a suitable stop; and when the beam moves or tips in response to the weight of the material accumulating in the cell the re-- ceiver, clearing the stop, undergoes rotation to discharge its contents into a .bag or other container held in receptive position by the attend ant. The now unloaded beam returns and these operations are repeated, and so on, continuously. The amount of material desired to be delivered in a run of cycles is of course determined by adjusting weights on the beam, but heretofore there was a variation in the amounts of the various deliveries in a run, and moreover the material was likely to be spilled about, because each discharge to a cell was at constant full flow. In weighing various materials by hand the practice is to deposit as many scoopfuls in the beamreceiver as will bring the beam nearly to balance and then finish ofl the weighing by dribbling the material into the receiver. My principal object is to improve apparatus for automatically weighing and delivering non-flowing" material which shall so far imitate this manual operation that this dribbling step will constitute the terminusv of each cell-filling operation.

Given a supply of divided solid material and a shaker into which it discharges, my invention includes a constantly moving agitator and a device movable to limit the agitation of the shaker; in the preferred form there is an elastic extensible connection connecting the agitator and shaker permitting a yield between them when the movement of the shaker is thus limited.

Further, glvena weighing beam into whose receiver the shaker discharges, there is means to move said device and means, controlled by the beam, for controlling the first-named means; and in the best form this latter means is subject to adjustment.

In the drawings, I

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation thereof;

Figs. 3, 4 and are sections on lines 3-3, 44 and 5-5, respectively, Fig. 1;

Figs. 6 and 7 are fragmentary elevations of the a weighing supporting means for the two shakers, Fig. 7 being partly in section on line 1-1, Fig. 3; and

Fig. 8is a rear elevation of the means for agitating the shakers.

A supporting structure or frame is formed 5 mainly as follows: By a base I; four standards 2 bolted to the base; a flat brace I and an angleiron brace 3a. connecting the standards of the respective side pair a brace it; two uprights 4 bolted to the base between said pairs of stand- 10 ards and connected by a brace 4a; and a plate 5 surmounting and suitably aflixed to the uprights.

A hopper 6 ail'ording the supply for the material and carried by the standards, debouches into a funnel 1 on plate 5 discharging through an opening 8 in the plate. This funnel may be treated as in effect a part of the hopper, it being present according to custom simply to prevent packing and a failure of the material in the hopper to flow. Said funnel also discharges laterally through an opening la controlled by a gate 117 and it has an outwardly reaching chute 1c. The stream delivered downwardly through opening 8 is of course superior to that delivered laterally, through opening la. Another funnel 9 is carried by: the uprights 4 and discharges into a rotary sectional receiver or bucket (ll) which in turn is adapted to discharge intermittently into a funnel Iii suitably attached to base 2.

The weighing beam II is a forked lever fulcrumed at i2 (Figs. 1, 2 and 5) and having a frame i3 fulcrumed in its fork at l4 and steadied in the movement of the beam by a link l5 pivoted to an arm l5 projecting from the frame. The receiver l1 comprises two spaced disks connected by radial walls llso as to form sectorshaped cells of equal capacity open at the periphery. It is journaled at I 9 in frame l3 and when unloaded and elevated one of four pins 20 thereon engages a stop 2| preventing the receivor from turning;

when the uppermost cell becomes filled and the receiver descends with the beam the stop is cleared so that the receiver turns to deliver into funnel ill, the now ensuing rise of the receiver with the beam resulting in the next pin engaging the stop. Peripheral shoulders 22 on the receiver are adapted to ride over a roller 23 to prevent backward rotation of the receiver. Adjustable weights 24 and 25 on so the beam determine the quantity supplied to. any cell before the beam tips under the delivered load. The tipping and return movements of the beam are intermittent and quick relatively to the time required for filling a cell. I make no claim to the foregoing. or to the combination therewith, broadly, of a shaker, such as 25 to be referred to, which agitates thematerial in the hopper at the bottom and so insures its flow, such being already known. All that is material here with respect to my invention is that there is a weighing beam having a receiver and that, as will appear, the movement of the beam controls the agitation of said shaker.

Such shaker 25 is arranged under plate 5 to receive the material from the hopperfand it discharges into funnel 9, being supported for horizontal oscillation as follows: At the back (Fig. 6) it has a fixture 21 including a rearwardly extending arm 28 and by this fixture it is pivoted on a-bolt 29 clamped to an arm 29a in turn secured to the back of plate 5. v 1

Under the chute is a scoop-like dribble shaker 30, supported as follows: An arm 3| (Fig. '2) projects inwardly from brace 3 and has a terminal bearing 3hr in which is journaled a vertical bolt 32. Above the bearing the bolt has fast thereon a fixture 33 provided with a horizontal pin 33:: affording a pivot for lugs 3311 on the back of the shaker and having a rearwardy extending arm 34. This shaker may have an agitating arm 31 projecting into opening Ia. It is supported at its front end on a roller 35 journaled in a bracket 36 attached to the near upright 4. (I may support the main shaker 25 in the same way, to wit, through a gimbal joint such as is characterized by parts 32, 33 and 30a, and by a. roller, as 35, at its forward end; and in either case if the bottom of the shaker is convex-rounded- Fig. 5the agitation incident to the horizontal oscillation will be augmented by some vertical motion.)

At 38 is an upright post fixed to the base I and to brace 3a at 39 (Figs. 1, 3 and 4), and in brackets 40 projecting from this post is journaled a shaft 4| driven by a belt 42 engaging the pulleys 43 and 44 on said shaft and the armature shaft of a motor 45 secured to the base. At its upper end shaft 4| has an eccentric pin 41 and thus forms the mentioned agitator, and to this pin the heads 48 and 48a of connections 49 and.

50 pivoted to the arms 28 and 34 of the two shakers are respectively connected; Connection 49 is a non-extensible rod, but the connection 50 comprises two terminals 500. joined by a helical spring 50b so that this connection is extensible and elastically resists extension (Fig. 8). The motor is put in circuit (the circuit being not shown) by a switch 5| (Fig. 1).

When the switch is operated to cause the motor to be driven both shakers are constantly oscillated for the first part of each filling of a cell, but for the last part the oscillation of the main shaker is automatically arrested while that of the dribble shaker continues so that by the small stream of material thus left flowing-(by the dribble shaker alone) an accurate measurement of the quantity predetermined to be delivered (by adjusting the weights) to the cell is (As will be apparent, the main shaker in a given time, and when operating, delivers the dribble shaker.) This shaker is 'eifected as folmore material than arresting of the main lows:

On the brace 4a (which provides an apertured upstanding arm 41) through whose aperture the beam lever projects) 'is fulcrumed a circuit-maker comprising a lever closer 53 thereon and which, when tilted clockwise in Fig. 2, closes the circuit 54 having any source 52 and a mercury circuitcarrying end of the beam, at least in-the 'elevated position of said end, such tendency being least when the pointer-lever is at the limit Fast" and greatest when the pointer-lever is at the limit "Slow in Fig. 4. According to the degreev of eifort which, by adjusting the pointer-lever, the spring coacts with the accumulating load of material in the receiver to shift the beam, with consequent movement of the circuit-maker. so the agitation of the main shaker is sooner or later arrested, while the dribble shaker continues being agitated, by the following means: The solenoid core or armature terminates in a hook 5| which,until the circuit-maker is thus shifted to close circuit 54, stands to the left in Fig. 2 clearof the then oscillating shaker arm 28; but when the circuit-maker is shifted and close the circuit the hook is drawn by the solenoid to the right and so holds the main shaker against oscillation,

spring 50b yielding to the impulses of the agitator.

What I aim at by my invention is to finish off the flow of the material to any cell of the receiver as a dribble. Some materials do not flow readily except in the downward direction from the hopp'er, wherefore a dribbleshaker for receiving the lateral flow would be functionless. I may therefore so limit the oscillation of the main shaker from the agitator as to effect a dribble by such shaker after it has oscillated to effect the main flow for a predetermined time. Thus, in Figs. 1 and 3 the brace 31) has an extension 30 supporting the solenoid and the latter is secured by screws 62 engaged in slots 63 in said extension which extend lengthwise of the solenoid core. By adjusting the solenoid lengthwise of its core it may be brought to a position where, when the solenoid is energized, the core on retraction will not. limit the shaker arm 28 completely against oscillation but will limit only the extent of such oscillation.

When the pointer-lever is placed at Slow the spring 51 is under maximum tension and so brings the dribble into effect sooner than when the pointer-lever is placed at Fast. And since for delivering a given quantity of the material to a cell more time in the first case is devoted to dribbling than in the second case the filling time in the first case is longer; in other words, the deliveries to the funnel it) occur between longer intervals in the first case than in the second. By adjusting the pointer-lever, therefore, the lentgh of time between deliveries may be varied according to the requirements of the material being handled.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of the class described comprising a supply for divided solid material, a shaker into which the supply discharges, a constantly moving agitator, an elastic extensible agitation-transmitting connection connecting the agitator and shaker, and a device movable into position to limit the movement which the agitator tends to impart to the shaker.

2. Apparatus of the class described comprising a supply for divided solid material, a shaker into which the supply discharges, constantly moving 7 meanstomovetheshakerbackand intoposition toobstrnct andsolimitthemovementwhiehtheiirstmeans tendstoimparttotheslnkenaicighingbeam havingareoeiverintowhichtheshakerdischarges,andmeans,oontr0lledbythebeam,ior oontrollingthesecond-namedmeans.

3. Apparatusoftheclassdescrlbedoomprlsinga material, ashakerinto back and forth, a to obstruct and so limit the movement which said meanstendstoimparttotheshaker,anelectric circuit containing a magnet having said device as its armature, a circuit-maker for the circuit, a weighing beam having a receiver into which the shaker discharges, and a spring normally urging the circuit-maker toward circuit-closing positionandooacting withtheaoenmulatingload of material in the receiver to tip the beam.

5. Apparatus of the clas dscribed comprising a supply for divided solid material, a shaker into which the supply discharges, constantly moving means to move the shaker impositively back and forth, a device movable into position to ob,- structandsolimitthemovementwhichsaid meanstendstoimparttothesbskenanelectrlc circuit containing a magnet having said device as its armature, a circuit-maker for the circuit,

, means to deliver the 6. Apparatus oi the class described comprising a supply for divided solid material having means to deliver the material in two streams of diiierent volumes, :1. main shaker and a dribble shaker respectively arranged to receive the material of the superior and inferior streams, constantly moving means to move the two shakers impositively back and forth, and means, movable to a position which is in the path of the main shaker but out of the path of the dribble shaker, to obstruct and so limit the movement which the second-named means tends to impart to the main shaker.

7. Apparatus of the class described comprising a supply for divided solid material having material in two streams of diii'erent volumes, a main shaker and a dribble shaker respectively arranged to receive the material ot the superior and interior streams, a constantly moving agitator, agitation-transmitting connections connecting the agitator with the respective shakers, the connection for the main shaker being extensible and elastic, and a device movable into position to limit the agitating movement of the main shaker.

8. Apparatus of the class described comprising-a supply for divided solid material having means to deliver the material in two streams of diilerent volumes, a main shaker and a dribble shaker respectively arranged to receive the material oi the superior and inferior streams, constantly moving means to move the two shakers impositively back and f0 means movable into position to obstruct and so limit the movement which the second-named means tends to impart to the main shaker, a weighing beam having a receiver into which the two shakers discharge, and means, controlled by the beam, for controlling the third-named means.

9. Apparatus of the class described comprising a hopper for divided solid material having a lateral discharge outlet, a shaker into which said outlet discharges, and means for agitating the shaker, said shaker having an agitating arm projecting through the outlet.

EINAR HOLE. 

